Photo Credit:
Dar Yasin
 
Photo Caption:
Buzkashi players battle for control of a goat carcass during a match in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 23, 2010. Buzkashi, or goat dragging, which is played by two teams of horsemen competing to throw a beheaded 30-kilogram (66 pound) calf, goat or sheep, as the ball, into a scoring circle. This Afghan national sport, outlawed during the Taliban regime, Buzkashi originated centuries ago in Central Asia and is held throughout the northern parts of the country.
 
Photographer's Note:
"For me, the earliest memories of Afghanistan are that of hearing all about how the Mujhadeen chased the Russians out from the country. I remember watching popular Bollywood movies in the 1980s where Buzkashi was depicted as the favourite sport of the Afghans. 
 
When I began working as a photojournalist I had always wanted to go to Afghanistan - not to shoot the unending war there but rather to shoot the daily life of of its people. I was curious - was their life under the shadow of the gun similar to our own in Kashmir? The other really important reason I wanted to go to Afghanistan was to see Buzkashi being played. The sport was once banned by the Taliban when they were in power briefly after the Russians left and before the US came there. Now, with the return of the Taliban will Buzkashi be banned again? Or will the fields of Afghanistan continue to play host to their national sport?"